Thirdly, As a just and righteous hand. Hast not thou procured this to thyself by thy own folly ? Yea, the Lord is just in all that is come upon thee ; whatever he hath done, yet he hath done thee no wrong.
Fourthly, Lastly, as a moderate and merciful hand that hath punished thee less than thine iniquities deserve : He that hath cast thee into affliction, might justly have cast thee into hell. It is of the Lord's mercy that thou art not consumed. Why doth the living man complain ?
Rule 5. If you will hear your affliction zvith moderation, com- pare it zcith the afflictions of other men, and that will greatly quiet your spirits.
You have no cause to say God hath dealt bitterly with you, and that there is no sorrow like your sorrow : Look round about you, and impartially consider the condition that others are in ; and they nothing inferior to you in any respect. You had one dear child ; Aaron had two at a stroke. Job all at one stroke ; and both these by an immediate stroke from the hand of God. Some godly parents have lived to see their children die in their sin by the hand of justice, others have seen them live to the dishonour of God, and breaking of their own spirits, and would have esteemed it a mercy if they had died from the womb, and given up the ghost when they came out of the belly, as Job speaks.
In what misery have some parents seen their children die ! God holding them as so many terrible spectacles of misery before their eyes ; so that they begged the Lord, with importunity, to let loose his hands, and cut them off; death being in their esteem, nothing to those continual agonies in which they have seen them lie weltering from day to day. O you little know what a bitter cup others have given them to drink ? Surely, if you compare, you must say, the Lord hath dealt gently and graciously with me.
Rule 6. Carefully shun and avoid whatsoever may renew your sorrow, or provoke you to impatience.
Increase not your sorrow by the sight of, or discourses about sad objects; and labour to avoid them, as occasions presented by the enemy of your souls, to draw forth the corruptions of your heart.
I told you before why Jacob would not have the child of which Rachel died, called after the name his wife had given, Benoni, the son of my sorrow ; lest it should prove a daily occasion of renewing
686 A TOKEN FOR MOUHNERS.
his trouble for the loss of his dear wife ; but he called his name Benjamin.
Your impatience is like tinder, or gunpowder, so long as you can prevent the sparks from falling on it, there is no great danger ; but you that carry such dangerous prepared matter in your own hearts, cannot be too careful to prevent them. Do by murmuring, as you do by blasphemous thoughts ; think quite another way, and give no occasion.
Rule 7. In the day of your murmuring for the death of your friends^ seriously consider your own death as approaching, and that you and your dead friend are distinguished by a small interval and point of time. 2 Sam. xi. 13. 1 shall go to him. Surely the thoughts of your own death, as approaching also, will greatly allay your sor- rows for the dead that are gone before you.
We are apt to fancy a long life in the world, and then the loss of those comforts which we promised ourselves so much of the sweetness and comforts of our lives from, seems an intolerable thing.
But would you realize your own deaths more, you would not be so deeply concerned for their deaths as you are. Could you but look into your own graves more seriously, you would be able to look into your friend"'s grave more composedly.
And thus I have finished what I designed from this scripture. The Father of mercies, and God of all comforts, whose sole prerogative it is to comfort them that are cast down, write all his truths upon your hearts, that they may abide there, and reduce your disordered affections to that frame which best suits the will of God, and the pro- fession you make of subjection and resignation thereunto.
END OF THE FIFTH VOLUME.
Princeton Theological Semmary-Speer Library
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